“It was midday and drizzling, but the trees, greedy for light, kept C fairly dry. He ducked under a thorny limb and watched a spider drop on a thread from the maze of twigs, leaves, stems, buds, and hidden inflorescence above. The spider drew C’s eye from the maze around him to the bark of the tree where she landed. There was something strange on the surface of the bark, or maybe a part of it, a bizarre excrescence (1). C couldn’t discern what he was seeing and decided to move on. He just needed to make it to the bunker and he would be safe.”